1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the power management of portable electronic devices and, more specifically, to a system and method for efficiently managing power distribution among the various functional blocks used within portable electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Portable electronic devices, such as mp3 players, cellular phones, portable video devices, personal data organizers, and portable laptop computers, for example, are continually providing more features, functions and/or storage capacity despite the fact that the devices are decreasing in size and becoming more portable. Many of these devices are able to achieve the increase in functionality and decreased size thanks to engineering breakthroughs with respect to integrated circuits which make up the electronic devices. Specifically, the integrated circuits are able to be more densely populated with the circuits that operate in the electronic device. Additionally, more efficient techniques for utilizing existing and/or future hardware and software are being developed to allow for increased functionality.
Due in part to these increases in functionality coupled with decreases in size, a common concern with portable electronic devices is power management. In particular, increased functionality typically results in increased power requirements. However, since the devices are generally getting smaller, less room is available for portable batteries within the devices. Therefore, a common problem is insufficient battery life. In addition, increased power requirements may lead to increased temperatures within the devices. Other than advanced thermal dissipation techniques, the best way to address this problem is through efficient power management for the device.
However, many known techniques for minimizing power consumption in portable electronic devices can lead to other problems, such as improperly managing common system resources. This is partially due to the fact that power distribution among various components in portable electronic devices is often managed through low-level software. This software is responsible for not only ascertaining the power requirements of the individual components but also for knowing when components are associated with common resources, like a clock/power system. A fundamental problem with this technique is that these associations are actually based on the physical interconnections of hardware within the device. Therefore, maintaining these associations within low-level software can be cumbersome from a software design standpoint, resulting in inefficiency from a power management standpoint.